Food, food, food...

Food was one of my great concerns when we were considering whether or not to take this job. Would there be enough vegetarian choices? Would I be able to get my hands on em?

Well, as I have mentioned before- the food is expensive. That hasn't changed in the two weeks we've been here. We've pretty much come to terms with the fact that a "normal" big weekly shop will put us out about $200 (14,000 Kwanza)- and that we'll end up supplementing that by a few hundred or thousand throughout the week (mostly to get more vegetables).

I bought a watermelon on Tuesday and paid $17 for it. But oh is it good. :)

Tonight I went out for a coffee with a couple gals from school. We went to the shopping center to have the coffee, and therefore of course ended up going in the shop as well. I picked up just a couple of things. The other gals actually needed a few things, one of which was bread.

Bread is a funny thing here. It's good- I like the bread. You pretty much can only get fresh bread (no bagged, pre-sliced kind of stuff). And you have to get it from the bakery. You have to ask for it over the counter, and they bag it for you. Without question there is only one person working this counter, which means, there is always a line. And at Shoprite, the bread line is always a mile long. The other night when we went for our big shop, as soon as we got in the store, Joel said, "Yeah, I'm getting in the bread line." I walked around several other areas of the store (like, up and down every aisle, slowly browsing practically every item...) before going to just wait for him nearby. But, at Shoprite, you can buy tasty bread from the bread counter for about 100 Kwanza, as long as you survive the line. At Casa des Frescos, you can buy the imported bagged, pre-sliced bread for 1,100 Kwanza. And it is not that good.

As for veggies- I'm enjoying having lots of squash/gourds to choose from again. I missed them in the last few years. We're eating a lot of zucchini because it seems to be available all the time- except you can only get baby zucchini, not regular size. And we're eating a lot of tomatoes (even though, for the most part the tomatoes here suck- Latvians would be horrified), some cucumbers, lettuce (lots of lettuce- different kinds and everything!), and the avocados...OH the avocados! I had forgotten just how good a properly ripe avocado is! YUM!!!!!

Tonight I bought a bag of greens. They were labeled as spinach, but I knew from looking at it that it wasn't spinach. One of the gals I was shopping with knew what it was, and told me a name I didn't know. She said it was ok, and similar to kale. I prepared it the best way I could see fit (basically sauteed up with some onions) and it was edible. I've seen several different kinds of leafy greens on the shelves here, but I don't know what they are, or how to prepare them. I'm going to be trying em out though, because leafy greens are something I absolutely fell in love with in Shanghai, and missed the crap out of in Latvia. Tonight I also bought wheat gluten, frozen whole soy beans and veggie hot dogs (none of which were available in LV) which is pretty exciting. Now, I just have to figure out how to get my hands on some nutritional yeast (a HUGE bag of which I left behind in LV, sniff, sniff).

The really good news is that the cafeteria food continues to satisfy (extra tasty because it's free!), and no longer causes any tummy trouble for me (I don't think Joel has actually faced any yet...).

Ooh! I almost forgot. The Angolans (or our chef? I don't know...) have a hot sauce and it is GOOD. It has a very full, robust and distinct flavor. There is usually a bowl of it out at the end of the serving line in the caf. Being that I like spicy food I decided to try it one day, and was smart to go slow. This stuff is HOT. One of the other new teachers wasn't so lucky to know what he was getting into the first time he tried it. He thought it was something else, and smothered his food in it, and took a huge bite. He was crying in pain before he knew what was going on. It's HOT. I'm already using more and more than I did the first day, but that said, a rounded teaspoon is enough for a plate full of food. Although I've made loads of progress in our time together in getting Joel used to some spicier food, he's staying away from this stuff with a ten foot pole. :)

Well, I guess that is the food report for now. Tomorrow night we have a dinner date with friends Shanan and Danielle, which will be followed by some serious Carcassonne playing. We're all looking forward to it. On Saturday, looks like it'll be back to the surf for Joel, and this time I'll be going along (to the beach that is, don't expect any surf reports from me!). Maybe I'll have some pictures to post afterwards!

Oh, and by the way- the first week of school has gone well. My back and legs are remembering what it's like to work with really short people all day (yeah, short, even for me), and I'm really enjoying spending time with the kids, and getting the lay of this program. So far so good. And if it's any sign of anything, yeah, I've been in bed at 9:30 every night this week (um, except tonight obviously...must be that espresso I had...), asleep by 9:36, and sleeping through til the alarm- mostly not even noticing Joel come to bed.

Oh, and by the way, by the way- I've been watching some Olympic diving while writing this post, and I just don't believe that those ladies inhabit the same human kind of body that I do. Yeah, they are amazing.

:)